Meet Callie Cavanaugh of Nonna Eats in Boulder

Today we’d like to introduce you to Callie Cavanaugh.

Callie, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My love for food was sparked at a young age. I grew up with a mother who had a deep love of food and cooking. She spent hours clipping recipes from magazines and researching the best restaurants. We dined everywhere from Michelin star spaces to the dirtiest hole in the walls. I loved both. I was the kid that ate everything. At age five, when most of my friends were playing with dolls or Legos, I was in the kitchen concocting food for my own cooking show as my parents sat on the other side of our island and counted down the minutes until they were forced to eat the, mostly inedible, dishes.

I went off college to study business, and after a couple of years, my desire to work with my hands and tap into my love of food couldn’t be ignored. I transferred to culinary school where the flame of passion was stoked once again. For a semester, I studied abroad in Orvieto, Italy. I was immediately transported to a different place and time. I lived and breathed the highest quality food and embodied the oldest cooking traditions. Dining was an art, food and cooking were a religion. It didn’t matter how extravagant the meal was, it could have been a simple loaf of bread with olive oil, there was a respect for the ingredients on the table and intention in the way we gathered. Meals were an unspoken time to decompress and connect with one another. We would dine for hours and wash away our worries.

Working in the food industry got me up close and personal with the challenges in our current agricultural and food industries. Workers were underpaid, hours were long, and the work was back-breakingly hard. Dating a chef for four years, I felt his pain day in and day out. Not only did he come home tired, his love of cooking diminished. Slaving over a stove all day left him uninterested in his own craft. I was left with the desire to hack the system, find a way to provide opportunities for talented individuals like him to enjoy cooking again and share their craft.

I went back to grad school to study interaction design. My world was flipped on its head. Moving from kitchens to the world of technology was a tectonic shift. I always thought design was about making things look pretty. I soon learned the core of design is to create systems for empathy. With design, you can dissect any problem and discover unlimited solutions.

At the time, I yearned for connection. I was surrounded by people and technology, but I felt isolated and alone. My whole life, food was the thing that brought people together, I knew I could use it’s power for good – to heal my problem and so many others’.

Over the next few years, I prototyped countless ideas and types of gatherings. I started by making simple meals for my friends and family. We ate everywhere, from my tiny apartment to grand homes to an open field to the backseat of my car. While some felt like a success, others felt like a disaster. The common thread were the comments I received from diners well after the meal. Weeks or months later, diners would share their memories from our gathering. They remembered the specific tastes, smells and conversations. They were hungry for community and beautiful food – just like me.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Being a single Founder & CEO has been incredibly challenging. I learned early on that I needed support from a wide variety of people. I’m lucky to have a network that I can lean on for expert advice. I’ve taken the time to learn so many aspects of the business, sometimes it feels as though I’m juggling ten jobs at once. In order to handle the workload, I’ve created a ton of systems to stay organized, focused, and intentional. Juggling all these things has led me to live slower and more mindfully – a shift I would have avoided if it weren’t necessary.

Having the patience to develop a product that expressed our mission while making economic sense has proved difficulty. It’s taken years to test out different solutions and create something that provides value to all constituents. Being a leader in the testing phase was difficult. It took a lot of courage to say, over and over again, “I don’t know what’s going to happen here…I can’t promise anything….this is just a test.” Even though I was being authentic, some don’t like the uncertainty tied to it. I’ve lost a lot of collaborators looking for something more concrete.

On the personal side, it was challenging to start my own business. I didn’t think I knew what I was doing, and sometimes I still have that doubt. It’s only times when I take the time to reflect on how I’ve grown that I realize how much I’ve learned and evolved in my thoughts and actions. What used to bring fear – i.e., raising money or creating business partnerships – is now fun. My business success has come with a shift in mindset – a freedom in thinking “what if” with curiosity and play rather than fear.

Nonna Eats – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We create intimate dining experiences – connecting diners to the best local chefs and bringing people together through food. Since COVID, we’ve focused on small private gatherings in diners’ homes. We work with a variety of top chefs that create seasonal menus – typically three or more courses – to cook and serve in the diner’s home. It’s like having a private chef’s table all to yourself, in the comfort of your safe space.

Most chefs in the food industry are restricted to making menus that will sell, or they work in a restaurant and cook someone else’s menu. We give our chefs the platform to make what they want when they want. They tap into creativity, cook their most innovative dishes, and care for those they serve. We partner with the highest quality farms and suppliers so our chefs are cooking with the best ingredients. Top-quality cooked with care – you can taste the difference.

Food brings people together. Sharing a meal with others is an art and something that’s been lost in our busy modern world. Our intimate meals create the space to connect with your loved ones – something we’re craving now more than ever. Since COVID, people are doing all the work at home (cooking, cleaning, teaching, working, etc.). When we cook for others, they take the night off so they can relax and enjoy the evening with their family. We continuously get comments from our diners mentioning the table sparked memories they “will never forget.”

We also partner and collaborate with local brands. We integrate art, music, food products and more into our menus and create intimate meals for their customers. Our chefs love bringing these brands to life and their people together through food.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The proudest moment was a couple of months after COVID hit. Many restaurants were going under, our chefs were losing their jobs and not knowing what to do next. The restaurant and food industry is changing so rapidly, many are still pondering what to do. Being a creative and business person is hard enough, then add the pandemic on top of it, and it felt debilitating for many of our chefs.

It’s been such an honor to support these chefs who are so talented and work so hard – to help them provide for themselves and their families – while supporting the collective mental health at the same time. We all need something to look forward to, we need joy in our lives. As many options have been limited due to COVID, we’ve been so lucky to share the gift of food and connection with our community.

Pricing:

• A la carte – $75-250/person for a 3-8 course meal in your home
• 4 pack – Book 4 meals for 10% off
• 6 pack – Book 6 meals for 20% off

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nonnaeats.com/
• Email: callie@nonnaeats.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nonnaeats/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nonnaeats

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